


All that I have is on the floor (God only knows what we're fighting for)

by The Blue Escapist (theblueescapist)



Category: Final Fantasy XIII Series, Final Fantasy XIII-2
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 17:11:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17687540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theblueescapist/pseuds/The%20Blue%20Escapist
Summary: Set right after the end of Final Fantasy XIII-2, so the major character death is actually Serah's.Title stolen from Adele's "Turning Tables", though completely out of context.





	All that I have is on the floor (God only knows what we're fighting for)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NightsMistress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightsMistress/gifts).



> Set right after the end of Final Fantasy XIII-2, so the major character death is actually Serah's.
> 
> Title stolen from Adele's "Turning Tables", though completely out of context.

Hope gets to three hundred, and the airship sticks to not rattling anymore, so he forces himself to release his death grip on the rails and gets up. He loses his footing twice, his senses still disoriented, but he focuses on Mog’s even, too slow breathing, and manages to stand upright.  
  
“Noel?” he croaks.  
  
He gets no answer, so he turns around till he finds Noel huddled against a bulkhead. He’s cradling Serah’s body in his arms, his eyes downcast, dry and unseeing.  
  
“Noel,” Hope says, too loud in the silence after the storm.  
  
Noel doesn’t answer, and Hope feels his stomach churning. He tightens his arm around Mog, then drags himself towards him, bends down to put a hand on Noel’s shoulder and shake him.  
  
Noel slowly raises his head, stares right at him and says: “I did this. I killed Caius. I…wasn’t going to, but he… with my own hand…"  
  
Noel mimes a stabbing motion, and Hope blinks, then blanches as he understands. He’s not fast enough to wipe the pity from his expression, and Noel flinches, his chin falling back to his chest.  
  
Noel’s voice is flat when he says: “The Goddess is dead. Valhalla’s gates are open and the Chaos got unleashed.”  
  
Hope is aware he should say something to comfort Noel, but he needs to find out how to contain the Chaos now, before it spreads even further, and he must get his team on it _at once_ , and is his team even alive?  
  
“Hope, are you still there? Hope, Dajh is not answering me!!” Sazh is yelling through the speakers.  
  
Hope breathes deeply, straigthens his back and says: “Sazh, calm down. Does Dajh have a pulse?”  
  
“Does he…?? Of course, why wouldn’t he…Oh no, you don’t mean! No, no, come on, Dajh, come on! Oh, oh. Yes, yes, thank you, he does, he does!!”  
  
“Good. Then he was probably knocked out by the chaos wave, it happened to Mog as well. Cover him with your jacket so he stays warm, and let’s get them back to the Academy fast.”  
  
“Okay. Okay. On it,” Sazh says, and he still sounds panicked, but resolute at least and he starts the airship’s engines.  
  
“Noel,” Hope says, and he hates how detached he sounds even with his mind spinning as it is. “I have to go back to my team, find out what’s going on. Come with me. We…we need to get Serah in a stasis pod. Snow will want to see her.”  
  
It works as intended. Noel shudders, then says: “Snow’s in this time?”  
  
“Not yet. But he will be.”  
  
“The gates have vanished,” Noel says, and finally there’s anger in his voice. “He cannot get here anymore!”  
  
“This is Snow we’re taking about,” Hope reminds him. “He’ll find a way to bend the rules.”  
  
Noel’s mouth is a tight line, but he doesn’t say anything else as he picks Serah up and follows Hope.

   

* * *

   

It takes Hope several days to realise he hasn’t seen Noel since they laid Serah’s body to rest.  
  
Sazh is flying rescue teams back and forth in between regularly visiting Dajh in the Academy’s infirmary, so it’s easier to keep track of him, but Noel has made himself scarce.  
  
Hope sighs, letting his shoulders slump; he rubs his temples, but it doesn’t seem to help his headache any. He can guess where Noel is hiding, but he doesn’t know him well enough to gauge how to approach him. Still, better take care of the matter immediately before yet another emergency makes him forget.  
  
He finds Noel exactly where he expected, sitting still with his back against Serah’s stasis pod, his legs stretched out in front of him, his swords resting on them.  
  
_Ever the Guardian_ , Hope thinks, but Noel’s gaze is empty as it fixes on him, and Hope is sure that right now he could take Noel down easily. It frightens him enough that he doesn’t bother to hide his exhaustion when he says: “Noel. Some help?”  
  
Noel’s pupils narrow, his hands going for the hilt of his swords. “What happened?”  
  
“Some of my people have been injured in the field. They’ve reported that animals seem to have mutated, possibly because of the Chaos. It’s made them stronger, and wilder. I’ve sent guards, but…”  
  
Hope looks Noel straight in the eyes, then adds: “What we need is a hunter, someone who knows how to survive.”    
  
Noel snorts, one corner of his mouth going up. “You fight dirty,” he says, but he’s getting up. He reaches Hope in two strides, and the despair in his voice has lessened when he asks: “So, where do you need me?”  
  
“I’ll have Sazh come get you,” Hope smiles, and his relief must be so obvious that Noel flushes a little before shuffling off.

 

* * *

 

“I was _this_ close to killing that Anubis! Did you really have to call me just then?!” Noel says, stomping inside.  
  
“Are you trying to lose our bet?” Hope says, and he can feel Noel’s disgruntlement even without looking up from the monitors in front of him.  
  
“Maybe if you told me why I can’t kill animals and have to run them off instead, it’d motivate me properly!”  
  
“Maybe,” Hope chuckles, but he doesn’t think it would. Noel seems to be keeping it together better now that he has people to defend, monsters to keep at bay; if Hope’s team is right, the real reason would send Noel right back into a depressive spiral.  
  
Still, Noel has been asking with increased frequency, so maybe a joke masqueraded as a hint could distract him from the matter. Hope is about to make up something, when the doors to his office slide open, and Snow strolls in.  
  
“So hey,” Snow says. “They told me this was where the big boss was hiding, and look at what I find! Two for the price of one!”  
  
Snow is grinning widely. Hope sneaks a glance back at Noel, witnesses him turning ashen, and moves to block him from Snow’s line of sight. “Snow. How did you manage to get here?”  
  
“Man, that’s cold!” Snow says, and he punches Hope lightly on the shoulder. “Do you have any idea how hard it was, with the gates gone and all? Not that it could stop me from getting back to Serah! Where is she, anyway?”  
  
“Snow,” Hope says, his eyes falling to the floor. He needs to say it before Noel has to, so he opens his mouth, closes it. Then he notices Snow’s feet are retreating, and looks up.  
  
Snow’s face is a white coil of grief. “So it still happened, huh?”  
  
“I’m sorry,” Hope says, and he can hear how thick his voice is, so he clears it and says: “She came back to this time, and the paradoxes were solved, so everything was fine, and then…”  
  
“…she collapsed on the airship bridge,” Snow finishes. His eyes are brimming with tears. “I saw it happen, a long while ago. But Lightning said we could change the future, and we all fought so hard to do it, and yet!! It was all for nothing!!”  
  
The wall trembles with the force of Snow’s blow. His shoulders are shaking.  
  
“Bring me to her,” Snow says.

 

* * *

 

Snow falls to his knees when they show him Serah’s stasis pod.  
  
“Hey, baby,” he croons to her. “You were so brave. You gave everyone a new future. I’m so proud of you, I just…wish you had one too…”  
  
Snow hits the glass with his fists, lets his head bang against it. He’s sobbing openly.  
  
Hope sees that Noel is about to say something, so he grabs his forearm, shakes his head. Noel’s mouth flattens, but doesn’t protest when Hope guides him outside the room.  
  
By unspoken agreement they both wait, Hope pacing up and down the corridor while working on his hand screen, Noel sitting on the floor and hugging his knees.  
  
When Snow finally comes out, an eternity later, Noel shoots up and says: “Snow, listen…”  
  
“So what’s the plan?” Snow says. His red eyes are narrow as he stares at Hope, his jawline tight.  
  
“The…plan?” Noel says.  
  
“Oh, please,” Snow snarls at him. “You’re telling me you’ve spent however long with him,” he says, pointing at Hope, “and you haven’t yet figured out he’s got a plan to get us out of this nightmare?”  
  
Noel’s eyes are darting back and forth between them.  
  
“You’re not going to like it,” Hope says.  
  
“Tch,” Snow spats, throwing his hands up in the air. “You think anything can be worse than _that_?” he says, nodding back towards Serah’s room.  
  
“You’d be surprised,” Hope says, and Snow’s on him in a heartbeat, clutching the lapels of his uniform’s jacket.  
  
“Out with it,” Snow hisses.  
  
Hope can see from the corner of his eye that Noel is hovering close as well, but indecision is written on every line of his body.  
  
“How about you prove to me you can handle it, instead,” Hope says, and it sends Snow staggering back.  
  
“You…you don’t believe I'll do anything it takes?!” Snow says, and Hope has to force himself not to react to the raw pain in his voice.  
  
“I believe you want to,” he says, giving Snow an apologetic smile. “But it’s going to take more than good intentions to pull this off, and right now I don’t think you have what it takes to do it.”  
  
“I can, I can!!” Snow says, hitting his open right palm against his heart.  
  
“We’ll see. Noel, can you show him the ropes? Tell him what we need?”  
  
Noel gives him a hard look, says: “Sure,” and from his terse tone Hope knows that he’s going to be cornered for a conversation soon.  
  
“Great. I’ll be in my office, then,” he says, and walks away.  
  
His heartbeat is wild, his thoughts whirling. He has averted Snow’s incoming suicide mode and got Noel another purpose as Snow’s babysitter.  
  
More than half of his team is still dead, their world is being swallowed by Chaos little by little, and he’s almost sure they’re all living zombies.  
  
But Snow is finally here, and with Snow, Noel and Sazh by his side, Hope is sure he can do it.  
  
He can find a way to get everyone back.


End file.
